Wahine wallop Northwestern

Tenth-ranked Hawaii scored the first three points of the match on Friday’s second night of the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Volleyball Challenge.

Northwestern never came close to catching up in a 25-12, 25-13, 25-19 blowout before 5,046 at Stan Sheriff Center.

The Rainbow Wahine (7-1) have won their past five going into tonight’s championship against Arizona. They have also won 10 consecutive sets, dating to coach Dave Shoji’s historic victory last Friday against Santa Clara.

Nothing this season was as brutally efficient as what they did to the Wildcats, who finished ninth in the Big Ten last season.

Northwestern played without junior co-captain Katie Dutchman, who injured her ankle early in Thursday’s loss to Arizona. Coach Keylor Chan started four freshmen against Hawaii, and tried four players in Dutchman’s place.

Nothing worked.

"We have to have a short memory tomorrow," Chan said. "Hopefully this stings a little and we can grow from this experience."

It worked for Nikki Taylor, the Wahine’s starting freshman, and sophomore Tai Manu-Olevao. Both had struggled recently. Friday they grew in front of the Wildcats’ eyes.

Taylor shredded their block in the opening set. She floored her first three swings and added three blocks. The Kaiser graduate would finish with seven kills, six blocks and .600 hitting.

"Last night was bad," Taylor acknowledged. "I think I was really … it sounds stupid, but I was really thinking. I was over-thinking it. It’s not a good thing for me to do. Tonight, I kinda just tried to let my body do its thing.

"That’s what my brother (Josh) always tells me to do — just play your volleyball and you’ll be fine. That’s what I did tonight."

UH All-American Emily Hartong kicked in six of her 13 kills in the first set as Hawaii out-hit Northwestern by 470 points (.367 to negative .103).

In the second, Manu-Olevao took over. She broke through with a 6-for-9 performance in a set in which the Wahine had just one hitting error.

Manu-Olevao finished with nine kills on .471 hitting — more than 300 points above her average.

"That’s what we have seen from Nikki and Tai in preseason practice just about every day," Shoji said. "That’s how they play. They haven’t been able to transfer it over in a real game. Tonight it was really nice to see both of them making smart decisions."

The country’s eighth-best hitting team had just six errors on the night and hit .451. Hawaii’s 10 blocks were a season high for three sets and one of the three middles were in on each one.

They almost got lost in the flurries of points and precision from the outside, but Kalei Adolpho, Jade Vorster and Kristiana Tuaniga were a combined 12-for-21 and hit .500-plus.

There was an urgency this night that was missing Thursday.

For the match, the Wildcats hit just .042. Their lone starting senior, third-team All-American Stephanie Holthus, went 7-for-30 — and led the team.

"Hawaii was much better tonight. What didn’t they do well?" Chan said. "I think Dave was not real thrilled with what they did yesterday, but Portland State is a great team too. They won their conference and they’re a veteran team. I think Hawaii was definitely not going to look past us."

Arizona 3, Portland State 1

The Wildcats (7-1) got 22 kills from Madi Kingdon to hold off the Vikings, 22-25, 25-17, 25-19, 31-29.

Kingdon got her fourth double-double of the season, adding 19 digs and six blocks.

Radford graduate Kaeli Patton collected her third double-double for Portland State (3-6), with 14 kills and 15 digs. Shelbi Miyashiro, a Mid-Pacific Institute graduate, had three digs.

Ashley Harris, a 6-foot-8 Arizona freshman from Petaluma, Calif., had one block in two short appearances. She is the daughter of former Hawaii basketball players Jeanne (Wade) Young and Rogue Harris.

Notes

» After losing for the first time this season, unranked Arizona State (8-1) stunned second-ranked Texas 25-18, 25-23, 25-21 before a crowd of 211 at the Illini Classic on Friday.

The Sun Devils fell to 14th-ranked Illinois in five earlier Friday, losing the final three points in a 17-15 final set.

The Longhorns are now 4-2. They opened the season with a four-set loss to Hawaii, then won four straight, including upsets of No. 1 Penn State and No. 2 Stanford last week.

Ninth-ranked San Diego (5-1), which gave Hawaii its only loss, upset top-ranked USC (6-1) in four. Texas beat USD.

» Rainbowtique and UH book stores are selling a T-shirt commemorating Dave Shoji’s new status as his sport’s winningest coach. The cotton shirt costs $16.